Dungeon Master Forum

I would like to point out that part of what RTC represents is the ability to improve DM. There are a few things that one should consider.

1. running into a thrown obj. Can you do this? In real life that is. A fireball sure.. could be it travels real slow when you release it but that's magic. however launching an arrow hmmm I don't think so.

2. complaint about an item having too many abilities.. why complain to an upgrade of an object unless it destroys the balance of game play?

I think it should be thought out very carefully before making a request for a change. Is the current change a bad thing if so.. why? I mean why would you want to run into a rock you just threw? It's very unrealistic and was more than an annoyance to me in the past. Infact it was one of my biggest gripes against the reality of DM. I think that a better solution would be to have timing for items based on velocity.

In order to get the idea across it would require gradual scalling of flying objects rather than the jumpy pauses of stuff in dm already. different speeds could be seen from the degree of scalling per cycle.

anyhow.. it's complicated but something to think about.. The point is just to think before you state a change is needed. What is it you really want to change?
Do you want to go forward or backward?

cheers

I believe that the intent is to make the game as close to the original as possible with the added benifits of being customizable for later dungeons. So in this respect, yes things that aren't the same (such as the wand having too many abilities etc.) should be changed. If I am mistaken as to the purpose of this project then my apologies.

That's what DMUTE is for.. DMUTE allows you to change nearly everything in DM except graphics.

The DM source code is unknown, and George et all haven't fully worked out the .dat files (or the saved..i get confused). So DMute still has blank spots, and there are alots lots of functions of the hex codes unknown even when all lines are accounted. For example, text changing has only been widely available for a month! You still cannot fully change other options that are hard coded to DM.exe (monsters, items abilities). Creating dungeons for it is still tough, combining playing with hex codes, stretching the changeable limits, and bowing to the other limits of the graphics. What it should be, in my opinion, is an excercise in creativity for a loved game.

With the clone, DM is recreated but with everything know straight off, and as the code is known any additional changes can then be added. That is the point of making a clone - to allow the flexability to expand the DM game as much as wanted (from a new dungeon layout to a whole new set of spells/objects/creatures) - rather than create an improved game right off. After all, one person's great change is an annoyance and detracts to another person.

So I think all the nit-picking is fine (*cough*, maybe not for George, of course), as why not start with the baseline that everyone agrees on and knows - a faithful DM - and allow everything else to be used at the wishes of the designer.

The real question is what flexibilities should be allowed for, and how can they be inbuilt to an engine which is trying to stay faithful. How easy is it to have user defined speeds for everything so that, as you suggest, it runs more realistic if you want this while you play the game. Can monsters have a 'allow ungrouping and regrouping' option built in. I don't blast any ideas and thought, so far they have all sounded great, but I don't know which I would want to always have to use if it came to deciding.